ACLU sues City of Milwaukee over Republican National Convention demonstration plans

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Milwaukee on Thursday saying the city's plans for demonstrations during the Republican National Convention violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024, seeks a determination that the city's "extraordinary event ordinance" for the RNC is unconstitutional. It also seeks a temporary restraining order prohibiting the city from enforcing portions of the ordinance during the RNC.

The ordinance lays out how members of the public will be able to exercise their First Amendment rights within the "security footprint" that will directly surround a credentials-only area where convention activities will take place. It was approved by the Common Council and signed by Mayor Cavalier Johnson in March.

"Despite the Event Ordinance’s pro forma recognition of the rights enshrined in the First Amendment, its substantive measures regulate assembly and expression with great force," court documents state.

About two-dozen people gathered Thursday afternoon outside the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee to announce the filing of the lawsuit.

Omar Flores, co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC, accused the city of prioritizing the Republican Party over city residents who want to protest. He said the group would march its planned route, which goes right by the main convention site of Fiserv Forum.

"We're just asking them to do their job and allow us our First Amendment rights," he said. "Again, this march route is within sight and sound of the RNC. We're not going to be led back to their protest pens where, essentially, we're just going to be chanting and screaming to no one. I mean, that's really not a protest."

The Coalition filed a motion to expedite the court proceedings "to prevent Defendants’ severe violations of the First Amendment." Federal court records did not show any hearings scheduled as of mid-day Thursday.

The lawsuit names as defendants the City of Milwaukee, Johnson and Department of Public Works Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke.

A spokesman for Johnson said the city was "fully prepared to answer the court filings" and had operated in good faith with groups including the plaintiffs.

"In fact, we have had open discussions and meetings with the litigants in this matter including discussions just hours before the lawsuit was filed," spokesman Jeff Fleming said in an email. "Milwaukee takes seriously its responsibility to provide an opportunity for people to express their opinions. The city is also focused on safety for all the people in and around the upcoming convention. We are working to maximize both those priorities."

City Attorney Evan Goyke did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit Thursday.

More: How Cleveland handled security, protesters at 2016 RNC. Few arrests, small crowds.

That the city has not yet disclosed a demonstration march route "deprives the Coalition of the right to seek meaningful judicial review of that decision and requires the Coalition to come now to this Court while there are still forty days before the start of the Convention," documents filed in the case state.

The city has not released the location of designated demonstration areas or the "parade route" for the July 15-18 event that will take place in downtown Milwaukee at Fiserv Forum, the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the Baird Center.

Those demonstration spaces are expected to be within the security "footprint." Those spaces will be announced in about two weeks, in concert with the U.S. Secret Service's release of a "hard perimeter" around the primary event sites, where credentials will be required to enter.

Still, much attention has been focused on Pere Marquette Park on the west side of the Milwaukee River, the expected site of a speaker's podium. Top Republicans have sought to prevent the city from using the park as a demonstration area while the Coalition to March on the RNC has also rejected it, albeit for different reasons.

The park is about two blocks from Fiserv Forum, but the Coalition argued in the lawsuit that there is no line of sight to the arena to make their voices heard to convention attendees.

The Coalition's requests in the lawsuit include that the city be required to issue a parade route within "sight and sound" of Fiserv Forum, where former President Donald Trump is expected to accept the nomination to run for another term in the White House. They also asked that the city remove all "unjustified" time, place and manner restrictions on "First Amendment" activities within the security "footprint" and that all permit applications to use the podium and march route be processed immediately.

The coalition plans to march at noon on the first day of the convention and to have "an assembly withseveral speakers at a location within sight and sound of the RNC venues," court documents state.

The complaint also raises concerns about a yet-to-be passed ordinance that would prohibit dozens of items inside the security footprint.

"The City also plans to pass an ordinance limiting items that may be carried in a parade or elsewhere in the security footprint, but, again, has not done so in a timely manner, which frustrates the Coalition’s ability to plan and organize a parade so that the Coalition, and others, may effectively enjoy their First Amendment rights," court records state.

The ordinance is set to be taken up at a special meeting of the council's Public Safety and Health Committee Friday morning after revelations that Wisconsin law allows guns to be brought into the security footprint while the ordinance would prohibit non-plastic containers, tennis balls and other typically innocuous items.

More: These Milwaukee restaurants and bars will be closed to the public during the RNC

More: RNC leader expects Trump to be in Milwaukee for convention despite July 11 sentencing

Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected]. Tristan Hernandez can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ACLU sues Milwaukee over Republican National Convention protest plans